


Away with the Faeries

by BadgertheGnome



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avalon (Supernatural), Dean Winchester Uses Actual Words, Engagment, F/F, F/M, Faeries - Freeform, Gratuitous Hand-Holding, Illustrated Work, Jack is a Benevolent God, M/M, Marriage, Mild Smut, Multi, Other, Pansexual Dean Winchester, Possessive Castiel (Supernatural), Post-Canon Fix-It, Protective Castiel (Supernatural), Shakespeare Quotations, canon-compliant through 15x19, fae, gratuitous troth-plighting, he/him nonbinary Castiel, proposal shown, references to Charlie's death, references to Oz, season 6 references - Clap Your Hands if You Believe, wedding shown, witches are not all evil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:08:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28971105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadgertheGnome/pseuds/BadgertheGnome
Summary: After popping a life-changing question to a certain Angel of the Lord, Dean Winchester finds himself (and his love) plagued by visions of a strange but familiar realm. As these visions turn violent, Dean and Castiel must band together to confront a foe long forgotten, lest they be prevented forever from moving forward with their life together. Destiel-focused, featuring background Saileen and Charlie/Gilda.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Charlie Bradbury/Gilda, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Comments: 15
Kudos: 18





	1. "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind / And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."

**Author's Note:**

> Hello dear reader! So, do you remember in season 6 how Dean got abducted by the Faerie realm, it was blatantly stated that he'd been marked by them, implied that he'd serviced the Faerie King, and then it was never mentioned again? Cause BOY I sure do!! 
> 
> This story seeks to address that, post-canon. It is mostly canon-compliant - technically being so through 15×19. Chapter one sets the stage for those differences, and the conflict that reminds the Universe that Dean should still be in Faerie-trouble. I've also expanded on the Faerie lore from the series a little bit, based on folklore and my own experiences (and plan on getting into the Oz stuff later, btw). Its been a while since I watched through the whole series, though - so anything SPN Faerie-lore-wise that I missed (like mentions of them in any non-Faerie-specific episodes) that I may unintentionally contradict, I apologize for in advance. This work is also unbeta'd, so any mistakes are my own. All chapter titles, excluding the epilogue, are from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," naturally. 
> 
> Finally, it includes art! By myself, and thusly, used with permission. All drawn traditionally and edited digitally. You can find more of my artwork over several different sites by searching @rachelillustrates . 
> 
> And one specific note about this chapter - I couldn't figure out exactly where the barn in "Lazurus Rising" is. I saw both South Dakota and Pontiac Illinois mentioned but wasn't sure, so I've done my best to just kinda..... not mention where exactly it's located. You all know what I'm talking about anyway and the boys drive literally everywhere for hours all the time, I'm sure they don't mind. 
> 
> (Okay I think that's it, for real.)
> 
> I've been low-key dying to write this story for ages, and sincerely hope you enjoy it. May the blessings of the fae shine upon you all 🦋

It hadn't taken long after Jack left Earth to its own devices for Dean to call on him again, to finally ask about Castiel.

He hadn't dared to in front of Sam. He couldn't. How could he tell his brother what had really happened, in that room? As the days had passed, he sometimes caught Sam staring at him (especially when he was just hanging up the phone with Eileen, or heading out to meet her) and he thought, maybe, he had figured it out anyway. But he never said anything. And Dean, afraid, had let it drop.

Until he couldn't pretend any longer, until it hurt too much to keep acting like he was fine. Until living the good, loving life that Cas had sacrificed himself for was too difficult a lie to keep up. 

He made it a week.

He packed a bag, told Sam he was headed out for a few days, and drove the long distance from the Bunker to a particular abandoned barn. He hadn't been there in years, though he thought about that day often, especially lately. There was probably gonna be something to do, some ritual to perform, so the barn felt like the right place to make this attempt. It looked just as he remembered - still borderline falling apart, symbols still painted on the walls from when he and Bobby first summoned him. Standing within it, he could almost see Cas striding through doors that had opened without the angel having to lift a finger. Sparks flying, shadowy wings displayed impressively. Dean swallowed a lump in his throat, blinked back tears he simply refused to let fall.

This wouldn't all be for nothing. Not if he had anything to do with it.

He knelt, and called for Jack, using the emotion he felt here to put extra weight behind his words. With barely a shift of air, his son was beside him, sitting cross-legged and looking completely unsurprised.

"You want me to bring Castiel back."

"Yeah," he shuddered in reply. "C'mon, Jack....I know you said no interfering, but it's _Cas._ We can't leave him there."

The newly ordained god-form (that was somehow still his kid) tilted his head in a painfully familiar gesture, and was silent for a moment. 

Then, "...all right, Dean."

He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Yeah?"

The boy held up his hand, like a pause. "I can get you there, but YOU have to do the rest. The Empty is willing to talk to me. Amara and I will keep it occupied long enough for you to find him and get out."

For a moment, Dean was frustrated all over again - why couldn't it be simple, just this once? _Sure, *poof*, here he is, right behind this curtain!_

But he nodded and reached behind him for the bag of weapons he'd brought, just in case. "Let's go."

** ~*~ **

In the end, it _was_ exceedingly simple. He just had to reach out for Cas in his heart, and there he was - asleep at first, but easily woken as he grabbed his shoulder, shook him, and yelled, "Come on, man! - CAS!" 

The Angel clearly hadn't believed it was him, but he let himself be pulled along anyway as Dean rushed back toward the opening Jack had left for them. Falling through it, they landed hard on the floor of the Bunker's war room. Cas sat up, tried to speak, looking the same - just as beautiful - as he had the very last moment Dean saw him.

Dean gave him no chance to argue, no chance to misunderstand as he wrapped his arms around him and pressed their mouths together in a tentative kiss - soft, at first, then _hungry_ as Cas's surprise and resolve broke like a dam, returning each kiss just as fiercely.

"What made you think you couldn't have me? Dumbass."

Cas pulled back, one hand cupping his face, the other gripping his jacket. "I could always feel your longing," he whispered, "and....well, I thought it _might_ be possible. I hoped. But I couldn't let myself believe you'd ever admit how you felt, and once I made that deal with the Empty.... if I had said anything, it would have taken me sooner." 

"We're idiots," Dean groaned, pulling him close again and punctuating every renewed confession with another kiss. "I love you. I _love_ you."

"I love you too."

They settled together in the Bunker as if it'd always been that way - Cas occupying half of Dean's room now, his sparse belongings making their way into that space without question or comment within hours of his return. They didn't talk about it. They didn't need to. They both knew they were making up for lost time.

It had been the middle of the night when they arrived, so Sam woke the next morning to find Cas sitting at the kitchen table while Dean made them omelets. He was dressed in the dead guy's robe over pair of Dean's boxers and one of Dean's old t-shirts, hair obviously sex-tousled and face still flushed, watching Dean with adoration over an untouched cup of coffee. They all stopped what they were doing and stared at each other. Dean swallowed hard against the panic rising in his chest, but Sam just clapped him on the shoulder and rushed forward to crush his friend in a hug, too grateful to see him to worry about anything else.

And he knew. Of course he knew.

Jack popped in - literally - just after they finished eating, explaining that he brought the Impala back safe and sound. And that the Empty was furious, but had agreed to back off - that to it, Castiel truly was more trouble than he was worth. In exchange for his release, Jack would help keep the beings of the Empty quiet, and hopefully, eventually, the troubled dreams of the Angels and Demons there would become peaceful ones. 

"Oh, and it doesn't want you back - ever," their Nephilim-son-turned-Ultimate-Deity clarified. "So that means, to keep you out.... you're going to become human, Castiel. Not right away, but your powers will continue to fade, along with your grace, and once they're gone, that's it. Normal human life, normal human afterlife. And I am, well.... adjusting things there. In Heaven, I mean. So instead of being stuck in a memory loop, everyone will get to be _together_ , if they wish, aware enough to make new memories."

"Really?" Dean asked, clearly surprised. "What about non-interference?"

Jack smiled, silent for a moment. "Well, this - I think - is more about making things more comfortable after life's over. Making them right. I don't think it's the same. Besides... you inspired me. I think we should all be allowed to fight to make things better, at least in small ways." He turned to his more-divine father again. "And actually, I could use your help with that, if you don't mind me coming back? To ask for advice?"

The Angel stared at him, taking it in with held breath. Then he took Dean's hand and broke into a gummy, shining grin, relieving the worried, nearly frantic expression on the man's face. "Of course, Jack, I'd be _honored_ to help you. And..... thank you. I couldn't have asked for better - do you know how long it will take? For my powers to fade?"

Dean squeezed his hand, beaming back.

"I'm not sure," their son smiled, pleased. "I'm sure you'll feel it, though, when it's time."

"All right - and please, come home whenever you want." He heard Sam and Dean both echo that, all "yeah man" and "of course," but barely noticed in the face of his own joy and that on Dean's face. 

Jack grinned and hugged them all quickly before he disappeared once more. Sam made himself scarce as his brother, bewildered, pulled the Angel into a deep kiss and dragged him back to their bedroom, breakfast cleanup forgotten in the delirium of this news. 

** ~*~ **

They stayed at the Bunker for another year, taking some cases but less and less of them the more time passed. There were younger hunters out there now, many of them, who needed their knowledge and experienced advice more than they needed actual on-site help. Their home became a sort of stop-in headquarters for several teams - first Claire and Kaia's, then Krissy's, then more through their contacts and their contacts' contacts. Not to mention anyone connected to Apocalypse Bobby or Apocalypse Charlie (though she and her Stevie had been trying to get out of the life, too). It felt natural, so many people coming through the space again, and for once Dean didn't mind. It was reassuring - a reminder that the world really had been saved, this time for good. 

Time passed, this new day-to-day peppered with new, exciting moments of togetherness that neither of them had allowed before. After a first few weeks of awkwardness - shedding old internal panics, finding a balance they'd never had to in spaces they'd never shared, both physical and emotional - their intimacy came easily to them both. Cas began sleeping as his powers faded, bit by bit - just an hour or so, at first, then longer as the months wore on and his grace's strength waned. He started drinking the coffee Dean set out for him in the mornings, then slowly eating too, little by little. It reminded him, very obviously, of the first time he'd been human - which should have been alarming, considering what had happened, back then. But he knew he was safe now. Any place Dean was was truly home, even more than the Bunker itself, and he trusted he'd never be asked to leave again.

Dean reveled in their happiness as well, but it didn't take much longer for him to admit he wanted more of a break - a new start, away from all this. A new home that was just _theirs_. Sam'd been all but moved in with Eileen for months by then, and no one that stopped in really needed help that they couldn't offer by telephone from miles away (not too many miles, Cas insisted, still hopeful to see Claire whenever possible).

They started looking at houses.

As soon as they found one that fit - not far from Sioux Falls, as it were -and after visiting and signing the necessary papers, Dean took Cas out to celebrate, planning to visit the barn once more as a surprise detour. 

In the shadow of the place where they first laid eyes on each other (at least _these_ eyes), he would ask his Angel to marry him. 

Of course, his nervousness gave him away before they were even halfway there. Cas had immediately asked where they were going when instead of continuing on the interstate to head back to Lebanon, they took a much earlier exit in a much different direction. At Dean's stammered insistence that he had a surprise for him, he'd simply nodded and gone back to listening to the music - the mixtape Dean had made him, years ago - enjoying the comfort and security of their fingers intertwined on the seat between them. But after a few hours of Dean's fidgeting, and knowing the former hunter as well as he did, he couldn't help asking again. 

"It's just...." Dean flushed, trying to meet his eyes but averting them. "You'll see when we get there, okay?"

"You are upset."

"No I'm not. It's... I'm -"

"Are you having second thoughts about the house?"

"What?" he gasped, very obviously shocked as he whipped his head around to look at Castiel. "No, of course not."

Frustrated now despite his usual patience with the man beside him, he let go of his hand to cross his arms. "Then what is it?"

Dean gawked at him for a moment, mouth opening to speak, then closing, then opening again. Closing again. He was thinking - trying to find a way around telling him what was really going on, which only irritated Castiel more (he'd thought they were _past_ this kind of behavior). Finally, Dean steeled his expression, having decided upon something, apparently. Looking quickly out the window and rearview to make sure it was safe to pull over, he hit the brakes and gently guided Baby onto the side of the road. 

He cut the engine. Still blushing, he chose to look ahead of him instead of back at his love. Cas waited, expecting to have to wait a while - and ready to, but suddenly Dean's eyes widened just the slightest bit at something outside. He looked surprised, almost relieved, and broke into a smile as he turned back to him and said, "....Come on. Let's go for a walk."

"I - what?"

"You heard me," he grinned, grabbing the keys and getting out of the car. 

Now confused on top of frustrated, Cas just shook his head and got out too, following Dean up the road and down a small path to their right. The terrain was very flat, as it was in much of the midwest, but a line of trees could be seen just a little ways away leading into a forest beyond. And in front of that line of trees was a pond.

Dean's hand found Cas's naturally, and the Angel twined their fingers together again, curiosity overcoming more tumultuous emotions. He didn't know why he'd been afraid, not really, after all they'd been through - although, maybe _that_ was it. They'd never had it this good, and after everything that had happened, it was difficult to believe that it wouldn't be snatched away from them. Especially since they were so unbelievably happy, despite everything they'd done. Every hurt, every betrayal. 

When they reached the edge of the water, the ground squelching a bit under their shoes, Dean turned to him and took both his hands in his. He cleared his throat, looking up at Cas and then down at their hands again, blushing at the Angel's squinting, studious gaze.

"Dean," Cas murmured, trying to give him - this man that he'd come to love more than anything, that he'd learned love itself from - the space to say whatever terrifying or wonderful thing was weighing on him.

"What does this place remind you of?" Dean asked instead.

Cas looked back out over the still surface, trying to recall all the times they'd been at a pond or a lake together. "I'm not sure. I've had a lot of experience with water over the millennia."

Dean snorted, and dragged his gaze up from their joined hands, nervousness and adoration shining through his eyes. "Okay, yeah. That's fair. But I was thinking...." He took a deep breath. "It's kinda like the place where the Leviathans put you into the water to release themselves, you know?"

Cas quickly inhaled through his nose, back straightening. "Oh."

Dean's hands tightened around his, holding him in place. "Just hear me out, man."

After a moment of silence that felt like an hour, Cas nodded. 

Voice shaking, Dean continued. "Okay. So, this wasn't the plan, but I'm kinda glad it's here after all. Because I think that moment, losing you there, was when I finally started to get it - not that I would ever admit it to myself, or anyone, back then. But losing you - _every_ time I've lost you - has been about the worst pain I could have ever imagined. Even worse than being in Hell. As bad as losing Sammy, for sure. And kinda worse than that because no one knows me like you do, Cas, or ever has. I've never felt this way about _anyone._ And I don't ever wanna have to let you go again."

He looked down at the ground, shifting on his feet and considering the mud and flattened grass around them, which made Cas look down too. 

"Did you drop something?" he asked, softly, starting to suspect but not sure if he dared hope. If he was right, he knew what this meant to humans. And he wanted it - of course he wanted it - but they'd never talked about it, and truly, after everything, getting to have _anything_ of Dean was enough.

Dean laughed. He looked up again and held his eyes steadily as he dropped to one knee. "Dammit Cas. I was gonna wait to do this until we were there. I... I was gonna take you back to the barn, where you met me - or where we met like _this_ , anyway, yeah? That felt right, but this is good too." He squeezed his fingers tightly in his grasp, and Cas grasped him back, meeting his strength with eyes widened and tears threatening to fall - matching the tears in Dean's eyes.

"You are more than I ever could have hoped for. You are awesome, really, truly, awesome, and the fact that I get to be the one who loves you confuses the hell out of me every day. But I am so grateful to be here, to be yours, anyway. And if you'll let me, I want to be yours for the rest of our lives, and after. I want to wake up with you every day, figure out our life together, have that house and keep our family safe and keep each other happy. I know I'm not a lot to brag about -"

_"Dean."_

"- and I don't have much to offer you, but I'm so grateful, and so lucky, that you want me anyway." He took a deep breath. "And if you want to keep wanting me, I'm yours. You'd make me the happiest person on this fucked up, rescued planet if you'll stay. I mean, if...."

Tears finally fell from Castiel's eyes, his mouth breaking into a toothy grin as Dean let go of one of his hands to fumble in his pocket, pulling out a small, slightly battered black box. He put it in Cas's empty hand, twisting his fingers around to open it. Inside was a silver band with a stripe of blue in the middle, not as blue as his eyes, but close. The ring was a bit tarnished, clearly with a history of its own, but it looked the right size and it was beautiful. It was perfect.

"Marry me, Cas."

Relieved laughter bubbled up from the depths of him. He found he couldn't speak - but he nodded hastily, as more tears fell from them both. He pulled Dean to his feet and watched with shaking hands as the man he loved, the man he chose, took the ring from the box and carefully slid it onto his finger. He surged forward, crashing into him as desperately as always, kissing his 'yes' as if to burn it into his skin.

He would leave no room for misunderstanding, either.


	2. "The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an old claim is reawakened, help is asked for, and a decision is made.

That evening, as they lay together in the warm hum of after, Dean trying out his love's soon-to-be name over and over ("Castiel Winchester." "Cas Winchester." "Mr. Castiel Winchester." - "Yes, Dean."), they fell into a deep and easy sleep. 

Only to be woken with a start in the middle of the night - eyes wide, staring at each other as they adjusted back to reality. The motel room was the same. They were together. But they knew, somehow, that what they'd seen in dreaming was shared by both of them - and just as real.

"Dean," Castiel breathed, brow furrowed as he reached for his fiancée's hand. "What was that?"

Images of bright greenery and plantlife, teeming with energy - magic - in a way that sparkled. The laughter of beings large and small, flying about on wings or of their own will, casting spells as if it were as simple as breathing. The mirth, and the mischief. A pair of wise, kindly, but capricious eyes underneath an antlered crown.

"Son of a bitch."

Cas scooted toward him, pulling him into his arms and pressing their foreheads together. Dean returned the embrace but stared off at the wall, still sorting through those jumbled visions. He opened his mouth to speak again, closed it, scrunched his eyes tight and shook his head, then let out a sigh that was more like a strangled wheeze.

Cas shook him a little. "Dean. Was that....Avalon?"

He gulped. Nodded.

His love blanched, which for Cas meant that the corner of his mouth twitched just a little, one eyebrow raising just slightly over it. "Why would anything or anyone be sending you visions of the Faerie realm?"

"Well. Uh.... do you remember that case me and Sam worked, years back, about the UFO's? The one that turned out to be a faerie thing?"

He nodded.

Dean sat back a little, taking a deep breath again. He shut his eyes tight and mumbled, "Oh hell. Do not be mad. I did NOT do this on purpose."

"Why would I be angry?"

"Because I got abducted on that case. I thought at first that I'd only been there a half an hour, and that I fought my way out, but I didn't remember everything right away. I was actually there for days, and I ended up on Oberon's - the, uh..... Faerie King's - service. And I didn't exactly leave with permission - I did try to fight my way out, after a while, but I couldn't get through until something _else_ grabbed me and dropped me right back in the field I'd been abducted from. I don't know what really happened, and I'm not sure that's really my fault, but... Yeah."

He nodded again, pondering. "Okay. So..."

"Did you have the parts of the dream where we were kept apart, where I was bound?"

"Yes."

"And did you see the.... Faerie King, there with me?"

"Yes."

He let go of Cas to run his hands through his short hair, clearly trying not to scream. "Sam told me the leprechaun he fought said I'd been marked by them, that I belonged to them now. What if that was true?"

"But it's been years, and they've never come to claim you."

"Yeah."

"So what's changed?"

Dean smiled forcefully over his panic. "Well, I asked you to marry me."

Castiel smiled back, unable to keep from beaming. "Yes, you did."

Dean's smile became more easy in turn, but he sighed again, reaching down to weave their fingers together. "I think..... I think maybe something with my service there - oh for crying out loud - well, what if its messing with that? Like me asking you to marry me violates a contract, or something?"

"Dean," he deadpanned, "did you sign any contract there?"

"Not exactly, but it wasn't that simple. I worked for him, was with him, willingly. Maybe that was enough? And now that I'm 'binding' myself to you, maybe that woke something up because it violates it?"

After a moment, the nearly-former-Angel shook his head and pulled Dean close for a deep, distracting kiss. "Or maybe," he stated after, pecking his love once more on the nose, "it was just a dream after all, and that'll be the end of it."

"Do you really think that?"

"No. But we can hope."

Dean snorted, and shrugged. "Nothing we can do about it now, anyway."

"Right."

They settled back down together, wordlessly agreeing to see what happened and wish for the best.

** ~*~ **

That was not, as they feared, the end of it. After the next busy day of getting back to the Bunker, sharing their news with Sam and Eileen (who were overjoyed), with Jack once they called him down to visit, and with Jody, Claire and their lot, they slept again only to see the same thing. Even more intensely. The more people they told of their engagement, the more steps they took toward planning their wedding or even moving into their new home, the more vivid - the more dangerous - the dreams got. Before long, they were waking up with headaches, then migraines, then nosebleeds _and_ migraines.

Two weeks later, on a day when Cas had awoken feeling like someone had tried to break all his limbs - they'd had enough. They called Sam - who was staying, again, at Eileen's - and had them both come back to the Bunker so they could hit the books. One of the brothers must remember something that could get them out of this, or there must be something in the lore. They would find it.

But after several hours, punctuated now and then by interruptions of other hunters passing through, they still had nothing.

"Have you ever been to Faerie - or Avalon, or whatever, Cas?" Sam asked over a fifth cup of coffee. absolutely at the end of his rope, as they all were. "I mean for business, as an Angel?"

"No," he replied, frustration dripping in his tone. "Their realm is completely separate from ours and not even technically of this Universe."

"Like the Empty?" Eileen asked.

"Yes," he replied, signing as well as speaking. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was immune to Chuck's prior meddling, as well. Regardless, they made it very clear that they didn't want anything to do with us, so after the first of us asked - however long ago that was, and whoever it was. I wasn't there - we just never bothered with them. They've seemed fine with that for eons."

Sam nodded, clearly thinking. ".....But other beings have been able to go there, like Dean did. So maybe -'"

"What, Sammy?" Dean snapped. "You want me to go back there, tell Thranduil I'm sorry but I'm not his bae and hope for the best?"

Cas' forehead creased again and he almost smirked. "He doesn't seem to look like the Elvenking, in the dreams, Dean. At least he's probably more complicated than an Elf of Middle-earth."

Eileen snorted, tapping the table to get Cas's attention, then signing quickly at him in gestures that looked suggestive. His smirk broke into a grin and he chuckled, answering in kind, which got them both laughing.

Dean groaned and cradled his head in both hands, his elbows propped up on the edge of the table. "I am never going to forgive Charlie for getting you to watch 'The Hobbit,' or you for getting _her_ to watch it."

He reached across the space between them and grabbed Dean's coffee, draining half the cup. "That was only after _you_ made me sit through all three extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy."

Sitting up, Dean looked at him in all seriousness, gesturing pointedly with both hands. "You had to see what I meant about Arwen and Aragorn, okay? It was....relevant."

They smiled at each other, sickeningly sweet, until Sam cleared his throat, a wide smirk on his own face and an equally devious grin just beginning to form on his love's. Dean blushed furiously and sat back, but still swiveled his chair possessively in Cas' direction and reached into his space to take his coffee back. "What? Shut up."

"You know, its all this lovey dovey stuff that got you in this mess in the first place."

"I can't not marry Cas, Sam. Jesus."

Despite the threat looming over them, Castiel smiled brightly back at him and reached over to squeeze his hand.

They all sat in silence again for a moment, each of them considering what had been suggested.

"How would I even get back there, anyway? They just picked me up last time."

Eileen reached for one of the many books surrounding them on the table, intending to leaf through it. "There's gotta be something on portals to Faerie in here, somewhere, right?

"Yeah," Sam replied, "but, hey - you know what?"

"No I don't," Dean grunted.

"I bet Marion would know."

"Who's Marion?" both parts of the couple across from him asked.

He shut the book in front of him, eyebrows raised. "Marion Byrne? The woman who clued us in to the fact that it was faeries, not aliens, in the first place?"

Dean stared at him blankly, mentally filing through a never-ending rolodex of people they'd met. Finally, his eyes widened with a snap. "Oh! Wait. You still talk to her?"

"Sometimes, yeah. She gave me her email and I wrote her to apologize for my behavior, after a while. We've kept in touch and I've asked her advice on a few faerie-related cases."

Still blinking owlishly, his brother shook his head but sat back in a semblance of relief. "Well all right Peter Pan, can't hurt to try."

"I agree. Sam, thank you." Cas sat forward, leaning closer to his intended. "And if she can help us get there, I'm going with you."

"Cas, you said that they hate Angels."

"Not....hate, exactly."

"And you're just about out of juice - you said you thought so, yesterday."

"All the more reason to go with you, if I'm barely even an Angel anymore. Besides, what power I still have might prove useful. I'm not going to let you face this alone." He leaned into his space, his left hand reaching up to gently cup the side of Dean's face, both of them aware of the pressure of his engagement ring on his skin. He smiled, all softness and trust. "We're in this together."

The hunter blushed but grinned widely, reaching up to cup his hand with his own, keeping it there. He leaned forward to kiss him firmly on the mouth. "Yeah. Hell yeah we are. ....Fine. Okay."

Sam snorted, made an exaggerated gagging noise but grinned. He stood in haste to gather their books, take Eileen's hand and launch the lot of them out of the room. "Okay, sending that email now and watching a movie! With headphones on! Please don't have sex on the table. Or in the kitchen. Or anywhere other than your room."

Ever respectful of his friend's comfort level, Cas did no more than lean forward to kiss Dean again, grinning into it at his future-brother-in-law's commentary. Dean simply flipped him off as he passed them, smiling into it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I chose Marion's last name, Byrne, from a list of popular Irish surnames (because Ireland is very faerie, and since they didn't give her one in the show....). It derives from the surname Ó Broin, and as noted in a quick Google search, "In the Irish language, Ó Broin means "descendant of Bran". The name has been traced back to the ancient Celtic chieftain, Bran mac Máelmórda, King of Leinster, deposed in 1018, (d. 1052), who belonged to the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty." (all of that from Wikipedia, btw.) Bran is also a character in the Welsh Mabinogion, a Giant-king who participates in a grand battle for the sake of his aggrieved sister (with much magic and intensity), so I felt like it was right for Marion herself. You can listen to a great account of the story in the Celtic Myths & Legends podcast, @celticmythspodcast on Facebook (available on Spotify and Apple, too).
> 
> Parts of this chapter also imply that Charlie and Cas hung out more than what we were shown in canon. I am taking that and running with it *because they should have.*


	3. "That you have but slumbered here / While these visions did appear."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an old acquaintance is rekindled and a journey begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While Marion's guidance and the bare bones of her spell are taken from my own magickal experiences and knowledge of the fae, I do recommend exercising caution in reaching out to them, and do NOT recommend pouring cream on top of burning herbs. That's just gonna make a mess.

Marion, it turned out, did have an idea of what they could do and was able to get back to Sam within a couple of days. She said that summoning a portal would be more trouble than simply sending their consciousnesses there, in something like a trance, and that she knew how to do it. It turned out (as Sam actually suspected) that her studies of Faerie bordered on practicing witchcraft. The spell she knew was simple, and she already had everything they would need. She freely offered her help, inviting them all to visit her.

So it was that several days later, Team Free Will stood on the doorstep of her small home again - Sam interested to see what her knowledge looked like in comparison to what he'd learned from Rowena, Dean and Cas exhausted from more troubled nights, but hopeful and nervous in equal measure. This seemed like the best chance they had, and if it worked they'd be free to move on with their lives. And their wedding planning.

"What do you think about Niagara Falls?" Cas asked, almost absent-mindedly, as they waited for her to answer the door. 

"Huh? Oh," Dean smiled, confidently taking his hand and squeezing it. "Maybe. I'm not sure if I want a big destination wedding though."

"We could just get married at the courthouse and have our honeymoon there."

He bobbed his head, considering, then leaned over to press a quick kiss to Cas's cheek. They shared a glance as they both suppressed winces, headaches twinging at their temples, but chose to ignore the pain. "That doesn't sound awful."

"Oh absolutely not!" Sam chimed in, causing them both to swivel in his direction. "I did not put up with twelve years of your pining, avoidance-ridden, repressed eye-fucking bullshit to not get to walk you down the aisle, Dean."

Dean grinned, placing his hand dramatically over his heart. "Oh my dear baby brother, I didn't know you cared that much!"

"I didn't think we were that obvious," Cas murmured, flush with embarrassment.

"Oh, trust me, you were. Both of you."

Dean started to reply, but Sam cleared his throat as a sing-song "Coming!" resounded from the other side of the door. The lock clicked and the knob turned to reveal a vaguely familiar face.

Marion looked much the same as they remembered, a short-ish, plus-size woman draped in crystal jewelry and layers of flowing skirts and loose tops, her wispy hair slightly curling around her face as it escaped the pins that bound parts of it to the back of her head. She barely looked any older, though there was more grey in her hair now than there had been in 2010. She smiled prettily at them and leaned forward to hug Sam, who hugged her back after a startled, awkward moment of surprise, then waved her arm to usher them inside. 

The space was just as Dean remembered - dimly lit, porcelain and pewter figures of all types of faerie-beings placed carefully over every flat surface. He noticed, now, the candles, crystals, drying herbs and ancient-looking books placed carefully across many shelves as well. Witchcraft hadn't really been on their radar for that old case, but he found himself a bit shocked that they hadn't noticed. Or maybe her studies had just gotten more serious over the last decade.

"I used to keep those things hidden away," she answered with a casual wave of her hand, as if she'd heard his thoughts. "But after everything that's happened, I thought it might be useful to be more open about the fair folk and what I may do to help them - or help others find them."

"Uh huh. Right." He tried not to show discomfort, forcing a wide, closed-mouthed smile as she led them into her living room. She sat in one of the armchairs facing the coffee table and a wider sofa - Sam took the chair next to her, leaving the lovers to settle themselves on the larger seat. As they sat, Cas's knee brushed his and he realized that they hadn't stopped holding hands. His smile grew into something more genuine, feeling grounded and reassured automatically.

"It's good to see you, Marion. Thank you for inviting us," Sam commented, his light tone more authentic than Dean's expression. She nodded back and leaned forward to pour them all tea from an intricately painted pot, handing him a matching, dainty teacup. 

"Of course," she chimed, not noticing any awkwardness - just as before.

Dean cleared his throat and gestured to the individual beside him, both of them reaching out to take their own cups. "And thanks, for your help. Cas, this is Marion Byrne. Marion, this is my fiancée Castiel."

She nodded her head at him with kind deference, and he nodded back. "Oh - " she started, her own cup clattering as she placed it on her saucer. "'iel,' as in 'of the Lord?' As in Angelic?"

Cas's eyes widened, and he looked to Dean, then back to her. "Actually, yes. Quite literally. Though my powers have mostly faded."

She bobbed her head twice, as if that explained something. "I see. I've never met an Angel of the Lord before - I could tell, though, there was something different about your energy right away."

Dean shot Sam a glare of the 'you didn't explain that to her?!' variety, then returned Marion's kind glance with a hand reassuringly on his love's knee. "Is that gonna be a problem? With the spell or whatever?"

"No," she replied, sipping thoughtfully at her tea again, "I would just exercise caution. Faeries and Angels are different beings, and from what I've read, not always on the best of terms."

"That is one way to put it." Cas set his teacup atop its saucer down on the table, leaning forward. "But from what my brothers have told me, we've been content to leave each other alone, so I don't think that my presence should offend them. Not terribly, at least. My powers are also fading - I'm almost human now, and when they're gone, I will be entirely."

She twinkled sweetly back at him. "So you'll be able to grow old together. How lovely!"

Dean flushed a strawberry-red from his neck up to his earlobes, feeling entirely sensitive at being so laid-bare and accepted by someone he had once dismissed as insane. But he let himself 'twinkle' back, and nodded, unconsciously leaning into Cas' side as he felt him slide closer.

Draining her tea, the woman before them set down her own cup and leaned back, regarding them more seriously than they had ever seen her. "Still, do be careful. I've been communing with the 'people of peace' about the situation and refreshing my research on Lord Oberon, and I doubt he'll be especially thrilled to find that one of his own is binding himself to an _Angel_ , former or otherwise."

At Dean's continued blush, Sam leaned closer to her, getting her attention. "So you still agree, that this 'binding' is what reawakened whatever mark the faeries put on Dean?"

"Yes, that must be it." She stood, smoothing her skirts. "Now, we should get you both settled in the parlor. I laid out couches for you to rest while your spirits travel there, and the tea should be taking effect in just a few moments."

"The tea?" Cas asked, looking at his cup warily.

"Yes. I included a tincture that will start the process of untethering your spirits from your bodies, so we can send them on."

"Uh, Marion?" Sam looked up at her with concern, tilting his cup in the direction of the teapot on the table. "We all drank from that, didn't we?"

"Oh don't you worry, Sam dear, I only put it in theirs. It was in their cups before we even sat down," she chirped, patting him on the shoulder and failing to notice Dean mouth 'Sam dear?' in his direction, the intent of sibling torture already building on his smirking face. Sam gave him a slight bitchface in return, but immediately turned it into a smile in answer to Marion's explanation. 

Not waiting for any further response, she stepped out of the space and into the next room, Sam untangling his long limbs to follow her and trusting that Dean and Cas would do the same. They did, Dean draining the last of his tea quickly and setting the cup down on the table as he stood. As they approached the doorway, he grabbed Cas by the wrist, pulling him back just slightly.

"Are you sure about this?" he whispered. "What if this takes up the last of your powers? I can't - I don't want you in danger."

Cas covered his hand with his free one, locking their gazes together. "And neither do I, you, Dean. My powers will last as long as they need to. I am not letting you go into this alone. We will find Oberon, explain what's happened as best his kind can understand it, do whatever he deems necessary to release you from his service, and come home. We will get married, and live happily ever after for the rest of our days."

His love snorted, but leaned into the touch. "Happily ever after, Cas? Really?"

He smiled sweetly back at him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly in amusement. "Well, we're about to head into the actual, real Faerie land, aren't we? This is probably as 'Fairy Tale' as we're gonna get."

Dean leaned in to kiss the mirth off his face, bewildering grateful for this being who stood beside him in all things - and silently believing that they'd already gotten their fairy tale, as it was.

** ~*~ **

The 'parlor' was smaller than Marion's living room, but she had indeed gotten two small couches into it and set them close enough together that they could hold hands across the space. As she guided them down to lay there, she actually went ahead and joined their hands, binding them together with a cord woven from many different colored threads.

"That looks almost like a handfasting," Sam noted, already going into scholar mode.

"Yes!" Marion replied, quickly nodding up at him as she grabbed a pouch and pulled a large pinch of herbs from within. Kneeling, she set them atop an already lit piece of charcoal on a burner placed just below where their wrapped hands dangled. "Now gentlemen, this is to state intention to the fae - that you're bound together, in this, already - and keep you from getting separated while you're there." She stood and reached behind the couch to her right, retrieving a small gold-plated bell. "If you get lost, though, you can find the path again by taking off an article of clothing and turning it inside out - your coat would be easiest, if you manifest there with a coat on. Do not eat anything - especially you, Dean - and Castiel, do not give them your true name. They will have power over you, then."

Dean craned his neck up at her. "But they already know _my_ name, don't they? What does that mean for me? For both of us?"

"Yes," she sighed, cutting the concern of her answer with another small smile. She leaned over him and winked as she pressed the bell into his hand. "Hopefully all of this will take care of the power they already hold over you. And when you're ready to come back, if they don't send you back themselves, just ring this bell. It will go with you into Avalon and your spirit's action of ringing it will carry back to your body, here."

"Okay," he grunted, trying to look over at Cas reassuringly - and for his own reassurance.

Cas was looking up at Marion, a familiar, adorable, furrowed-brow frown on his face. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

She spun around and reached behind Sam for a pitcher, the condensation causing her fingers to shine. She grabbed a small book next to it and placed it in Sam's hands, tapping the top of a ribbon bookmark where it peeped out of its place halfway through the pages. "Do not lie to them. Honesty is key - and be honest about what you're comfortable with, too, if they set any challenge for you or task as condition of releasing Dean. Oh, and do not thank them! You may express gratitude, but if you say the words 'thank you' they will probably take it as a dismissal or an insult to their generosity."

"That's a hell of a lot of rules," Dean grumbled. Cas squeezed his fingers in a way that felt like getting jabbed in the side with his elbow. He shrugged at him, his expression defensive. Cas responded by rolling his eyes. 

"There are," she agreed, "and they can change at any moment. The fair folk _are_ fair, but often tricksy about it. Be careful of their words, listen to what they actually say, and choose your own words carefully. Really though, just be respectful and true, and you'll be all right."

Sam looked over at her with raised eyebrows as he leafed through the small book in his hand, going over the spellwork. "You sure about that?"

"Well, as sure as I can be. Lord Oberon and Lady Titania rule over all the faeries, both good and bad, so Avalon is neither good nor bad entirely. And so, neither are they. But they honor and respect good intention, and since the King must be fond of Dean - having taken him into his service in the first place - I believe they will at least hear them out and return them home, even if they don't release him."

"Oh they're gonna release me. " Dean steeled his gaze. He looked over at Cas again, adding in a whisper "Ain't no grabby, incandescent douchebag gonna keep me from what I want."

Cas smiled lovingly back at him, but shook his head. "As honored and relieved as I am to hear that, I doubt that attitude is going to help us."

"Quite right," Marion chimed again, leaning over the book in Sam's hand one more time and nodding as she stepped back into the space between them. "But don't be worried. Go with love and openness. We'll be waiting for you here, when you're done."

They nodded, adjusting their hands to once again lace their fingers together. Marion quietly looked back to instruct Sam to start reading as she started pouring. Dean looked over at Castiel, finding him already gazing back.

"I love you," the Angel murmured, sure and steady. "We're going to get through this."

"Okay," Dean breathed. "You too."

Marion counted to three, and started pouring the contents of the pitcher - cream - directly on top of the burning herbs. The moisture should have put out the fire and smothered the smoke, probably smelling terrible, but instead it all burned _brighter,_ the smell of the herbs intensifying and melding with the cream into something sickeningly sweet. Sam began chanting in a strange language full of flowing vowels and bouncing cadence. The air thickened, and Dean and Cas both felt their bodies getting heavier. Suddenly, they were falling, their consciousnesses spiraling down into the blackness behind their eyes, until the smell of the smoke and Sam's words seemed miles away.

Then all was silent. And bright.


	4. “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which old friends are met, courage is found, and a challenge is placed.

Dean woke on a pebble-covered path lined with tall, wild hedges. He blinked, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the brightness. Soon he saw the sky above - swirling with colors, clouds and shapes that looked like the tops of trees turned upside-down. Everything shone and sparkled.

Yup. This was it.

"Cas?" he called, ignoring the slight pounding in his head and the sound of chainmail clinking around his neck. 

"I'm here, Dean." 

He turned to the right and saw that Castiel was already standing, dressed in some....well, frankly, Elven-looking robes. They slit up the sides of his legs to reveal tight britches and sturdy boots underneath. The top layer of the tunic was the soft brown of his trenchcoat, snug over several other layers of varying blues. Across his chest, the fabric was decorated with black and silver embroidery depicting a lion's head, a zebra's head, and a black bird's head right over his heart. With six unfurled black wings behind them, they spanned across the center and onto his shoulders. Otherwise, Cas looked the same, his blue eyes almost glowing, smiling with slight embarrassment on his face. 

Dean whistled, taking his hand when he offered it to help him to his feet, letting their chests bump together. He reached down to hold him there, both hands on his hips. "You look awesome."

"So do you," he blushed in return, looking down. Dean noticed, then, that he was dressed in an even fancier version of what he'd worn while LARPing with Charlie. The same chainmail sat loosely like a cowl around his neck, this time proving a whole shirt of it underneath the forest green tunic on top. Bracers fit firmly over tan sleeves on his arms and a belt, leggings and tall boots in varying colors of brown sat below that. 

"Hell yeah I do," he grinned. " _We_ look awesome. We should get married like this."

At 'married,' both their heads began to throb harder, and they pulled apart.

"Dammit," Dean cursed moments later, when the pain subsided. "After we figure this out. Then the M word."

Cas nodded, reaching out tentatively to take Dean's hand. When the pain failed to return, he sighed with relief and began tugging Dean in the direction the path seemed to widen. "The sooner the better."

As they walked, his betrothed leaned over and bumped their shoulders together. "I would say you can't wait to have me, but its not like we haven't been living in sin all year."

Cas snorted. "As if you could have waited that long."

"I don't think I'm the only one who's been wanton, huggy bear."

At that, Cas stopped and used the awkward momentum of Dean's continued stride to pull him off balance, crashing back into him. Both his hands wrapped tightly - possessively - around his upper arms. 

"I did my waiting, Dean Winchester," he breathed hotly into his ear. "I was content to stand beside you and find my happiness in loving you silently, expecting nothing. But now that I know and trust that you want me back, and in this way... I am _done_ waiting." He leaned back, then forward again, nipping at Dean's bottom lip and releasing him in the same motion.

"Dammit, Cas," Dean gasped, chasing the kiss but failing to capture him. ".....I really need to break up with Thranduil. Right now."

"That you do." The Angel took his hand again, and started them back down the path. 

They were quiet for a while, waiting for a sign that this was the right way, looking in the distance for the shape of a castle or a "This Way to Lord Oberon, King of the Sparkly Douchenozzles" road marker. Upon this closer look, it was clear the hedges weren't just wild - they were swaying, _glowing,_ greens more vibrant than anything on earth filling them up and resonating outward. The berries on them glistened like neon lights. The air shifted around them like the sky above did, pulling more color through the space. They heard laughter, too, as if they were being watched, but every time they stopped to look - no one was there. 

Finally, Cas broke their companionable, but nervous, silence. "Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Before we get there, I think I should know what happened between you and Oberon."

Dean flushed crimson again, slipping into deflection automatically. "Oh? Jealous?"

"Yes. But that's beside the point. Knowledge is power, and I want to go in there armed as you are." He looked down at his waist and legs, then his love's. "You might have noticed they didn't give either of us weapons. Knowledge may be the only defense we have."

Dean sighed. "Okay." He was silent for a while, remembering. As always, Cas waited patiently. "....Like I said, I went into his service willingly. I think part of me realized what was going on, that it wasn't an alien thing, pretty soon after they got me here and processed me - which is _not_ as probey as it sounds. Everything felt really heavy, and spinny, like being drunk, almost. And I thought, if its not Earth, does it really count if I let him kiss me? If I see where that goes?"

Cas just nodded, squeezing his hand gently. 

"You know I'd been with other men before. But I did a lot of pushing those feelings down, especially when my Dad was still alive ....and still did, after." He swallowed hard against a lump in his throat. "A lifetime of being taught to hate myself for it was hard to shake. It was refreshing to not have to worry about any of that here. I stayed for a couple days, I think, until I remembered about the case, and Sam....and you... then I ran and fought my way the hell out. But still - it was nice, to not have to feel al that shame. It didn't seem to matter at all to anyone here, who or what I wanted."

"That is so," a light voiced perked up beside them, smooth sounds flowing like water over river pebbles. "Everyone here is beyond such constraints and judgements, of the bedroom or the heart."

They started, backing away from the source of the sound and shifting immediately into defensive, fighting stances, side by side. The woman before them raised her eyebrows, dark brown hair lifting over lighter brown skin, her face a round oval with a short, aquiline nose, full lips pursing below it. Her eyes were large and round, and gently pointed ears twitched under long curls, with an antlered deer skull poised atop her head. Her gown was a light yellow, now, instead of the white she wore the last time Dean had seen her. And if he looked sideways, he could swear he saw the hint of incandescent wings flowing from her back. 

"Gilda?" he gawked, relaxing his posture a bit. 

She smiled serenely and charmingly up at him. "Greetings, Dean. It is good to see you again."

Cas relaxed too. "Is this someone you remember from before?"

"Yes, but not like that." He gestured between them. "This is Gilda, she's the faerie we saved that time with Charlie and the LARPing, I think I told you about that?" He nodded. "Okay good, and Gilda, this is Ca - um, Aziraphale? Yeah. He's my.... well, we want to do something. Together. But apparently we can't cause I'm still bound to your boss."

He could feel Cas stifle a groan at the fake name, but chose to ignore him, focusing on their unexpected guide - hoping she wasn't sent as a challenge.

She nodded. "I understand. We all heard you were coming, though the King is actually not my 'boss' - I serve Queen Titania. They both sent me to collect you."

"I see," Cas replied, nodding at her. "Can you take us to them, please?"

She nodded, stepping lightly past them in the direction they'd come from. They looked at each other and shrugged, falling quickly into step behind her as she rounded a bend on the path.

"So, how are you?" Dean asked after several uncomfortable silences. 

"I am well. After I returned here with Gerry, my former master, I was rewarded for bringing him to the Faerie Tribunal's attention - and their justice - by being made a part of the Queen's court. When news reached the courts that you were coming, the King and Queen chose to assemble their forces and hold an audience for you once you arrived. They are very interested."

"I bet," Dean mumbled, more embarrassed and worried with every word she spoke.

Cas reached over and gripped his shoulder affectionately, noticing that in this strange place, he could still feel the brand of his grace on Dean's skin, even through the armor and all the fading it had done on Earth. That warmed him. "How did news of our situation reach you?"

"Lord Oberon felt it," she answered simply, waving her arm near the hedgerow beside them to open up another path there. "As soon as you intended to vow yourselves to one another, the mark he placed on Dean resonated within him, alerting him to that violation."

"Being in love isn't a violation," 'Aziraphale' pressed on, arguing, but without any heat in it. "And as it is, another had placed a claim on him long before the King had. _Me."_

She smiled back at them. "Yes, we know that. It was felt long ago, by the King himself when he marked Dean for the fae. But since _our_ power is greater than your might, he considered it no matter."

The lovers exchanged a withering glance, defiance behind Dean's and rebellious irritation behind Cas'.

"Okay, I hear that," Dean said cautiously. "But I don't want to be marked for any faerie anymore. I want to be free to 'bind' myself to whoever I want to, not stuck in an agreement I didn't realize I was making. I left because of that, I fought my way out of here because -'"

"You left because Queen Titania let you," Gilda replied, her tone still light and casual, almost amused, as she stopped and leaned forward to part two more trees in the briars beside them.

"Excuse me?"

"This will do," she said to herself, clasping her hands over her stomach. "Come, stand beside me. We can step through here."

"What do you mean 'through?' We're already in Avalon, aren't we?"

"Yes, but the witch who sent you here wasn't as familiar with our terrain as we should like. If we were to keep walking to the court, the journey would take most of the rest of your natural life, Dean Winchester."

"Oh. Sure. Okay." He let go of Cas's hand, sharing a worried but resigned look as they parted to stand on either side of the faerie maiden. She raised both her arms forward at shoulder level, weaving them in a twisting pattern that caused energy to glow from her heart. It flowed down her limbs and out into the space between the trees, pushing them further apart into a pulsing green spiral.

"All right, we may go," she stated, stepping forward and then aside to usher them through. "Oh - and Dean?"

"Yeah?" he asked, looking back as she guided him.

"When this is over, I would like to hear about Charlie. I cannot feel her presence as I once could. I am worried."

He gulped, nodding, choosing to leave that for after they dealt with their current magical crisis.

** ~*~ **

They emerged on the other side of a hedge like the ones on the path they'd left, facing a copse of tall, curving trees. Their branches were curled over and twined together to form an archway, leading to more and more of them like a cathedral hall. They and the path flowed down a hill before them, into the earth. Glowing flowers and round fruits, in purples, yellows and reds hung like lanterns among the branches. Richly saturated ribbon in colors of the night sky and shining gold and silver were woven amongst them, throughout the trunks and above, curling down prettily.

And there were beings floating everywhere, small bright spheres of light masking lithe, winged shapes. 

Just like the one Dean had microwaved.

He gulped, but kept his head high as Gilda led them down the path and into an opening ringed with more trees that joined overhead to form a woven ceiling. All manner of faerie beings were present - Dryads and Centaurs and Fauns and Trolls and Gnomes and Elves, even Leprechauns, which made Dean shudder a little, remembering the one that had attacked that town in the first place. With them all in their true forms, here, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to recognize him in the crowd.

He didn't dare take Cas' hand, but stepped a bit closer to him anyway as they approached a dais at the far end of the space. It held two tall thrones with banners unfurled behind them, like a wall, in the same colors as the ribbons. On the right sat a gorgeous, muscular woman with short cropped blonde-brown hair and tanned peachy skin, her hair curling around her face becomingly. A crown of stars floated above her brow and a sleeveless purple-blue gown draped over her form, glittering as if more stars were woven into it. Her long pointed ears were decorated with many hoops and draping, dangled beads, matching jewelry on her upper arms. She sat up, forearms on the armrests of her throne, posture commanding. Her gaze was carefully neutral, but clearly, she was assessing them. Gilda immediately curtsied to her and walked briskly over to her side. 

Beside the Queen, on the left, sat Oberon.

He was equally stunning, dressed in rich purples and blacks, his robes almost in the same style as Cas'. A garland of what looked like nightshade sat around his neck and shoulders, draping down his chest, slits in the fabric of the robe's skirt and sleeves revealing bright fabric underneath that moved in color like clouds across a sunlit sky. His dark skin and carefully braided hair sat underneath a crown of leaves and flowers, two tall antlers rising from the blooms resting on his pointed ears, which were decorated just like his wife's. His wide eyes regarded Dean fondly, almost hungrily, as a smile slowly curled above his short beard.

A small, wiry being that had been lounging on top of his throne chose that moment to catapult off the top of the seat, bounding gracefully down with a backflip to tumble before the King and Queen. They rolled to a stop in front of their liege's guests, bouncing to their feet in a fluid motion, one arm stuck out in triumph and introduction. They grinned, small horns poking out from their thick bundle of hair, their shimmering white tunic beautifully stark against their deep complexion. The fabric was bound with a cinch and the whole outfit accented with bundles of black feathers sitting on their shoulders. 

They winked at Dean, turned back to the royalty behind them, and cried, "Introducing, as expected, the honorable Dean Winchester, servant of my Lord Oberon, and the Angel Castiel, his attempted intended."

_Shit._

"Awesome, Puck," he muttered, feeling Cas's shoulders sag beside him.

"Hallo, freckles," the faerie replied, booping him on the nose and spinning away. "Welcome back."

He groaned, and - giving up - reached out and took Cas's hand possessively. "Okay fine. if you know who we _both_ are, you know why we're here."

"Oh I do," Oberon replied, standing and crossing the space between them with one swift motion. Behind him, Titania rolled her eyes, her posture still rigid. The King stepped close to Dean, not minding the other being beside him, and leaned in to place his hands on either side of Dean's face. Dean groaned lightly, squeezing Cas's hand - not letting go, but not stepping away. It had been so long since he'd been here - he hardly remembered what to do. How could he not cause offense?

"Welcome back, little vassal," the Faerie King whispered, leaning forward to press their lips together.

"HEY!" Cas shouted, yanking Dean backward by their joined hands and breaking him and the King apart. He flushed, having not meant to be forceful or rude, but unable to help it. He stepped beside Dean, almost in front of him, regarding the powerful being before them warily and forcing himself to lower his head in deference. "...I apologize. I meant no insult."

Oberon laughed, waived it off, and returned to his throne. "I expected no less, and no less rudeness from one of _your_ kind. Haughty interlopers, content to take almost all of the adoration, the respect, of the humans - letting MANY of them assume that we're of _your_ ilk, but disloyal and fallen from grace. Still, from what we have heard of YOU..... you may be right to be so forward with your claim on this man. But - " he sat, and crossed his legs "- my claim is valid, too, and you shall both answer for it before this night is through."

It was Dean's turn to roll his eyes, then, stepping forward again with an apologetic gaze in his love's direction. His jaw clenched, twitched, fighting against the urge to tell him off as well. "Lord Oberon - I didn't realize what I was doing, exactly, when I entered your service before. I don't regret it, but I want other things now -" he looked at Cas, and smiled. "I _love_ someone else. And I want to marry him...which apparently I can't DO while whatever mark you put on me is still there."

"Yes."

He waited, but no further answer came. "....So, can you remove it?"

"Yes."

He sighed with relief, but behind him, Cas spoke up. _"Will_ you remove it?"

The king smiled with slight wickedness. "No."

"Why not?" they asked together. 

Oberon looked at Titania, who was clearly trying not to glare daggers at him, then back at the couple before him. "When you left us before," he started, "you did so violently, even though it was.... someone else.... who truly sent you back to your world. You then killed a member of my court, sent to check on you, and a member of my wife's court, sent to make sure you didn't come back. That violence demands a punishment, and your loneliness would suffice." His smile turned more kindly, impressed, almost. "Besides, your violent, angry-warrior spirit would still serve well within my court. And I have missed you. Are you sure you do not wish to stay?"

His unwilling servant stammered wordlessly, blushing purple - flabbergasted, leaving Cas to speak up again. "You said two were killed after Dean left this place, and that Dean himself did not escape on his own. Will you explain that?"

"Certainly," Titania answered, reaching over to squeeze her husband's hand. " _I_ sent him back."

"Why?"

"My lord was growing too fond of the boy. We aren't exclusive, but our favorites must remain each _other_."

Dean flushed, still not knowing what to say. "Okay," he finally answered. "So, I guess, th- I mean, I am very grateful for your help, your highness."

She nodded gracefully.

"So what happened, with the others you sent after me? Why were they there?"

"Well," said Oberon, "the sprite - the one you 'pizza rolled' into oblivion, I sent to Earth to check on you, after I could not find you and learned what my dear wife had done. They were _not_ instructed to attack you, but I feel they must have believed you had truly escaped of your own will, and took it as an insult to me."

"And the Red Cap," Titania answered, "I sent him to make sure you'd never come back."

"By ganking me," Dean replied flatly. 

"If necessary. But all turned out well, didn't it?"

He heaved a heavy sigh, looking at Cas, and then Gilda, who just smiled encouragingly at them both. 

"It would be more well, your highness," Castiel replied, "if you would release Dean from this bondage and let us go on our way."

Oberon shook his head. "I have no reason to do so. It benefits me not."

"How does keeping me against my will 'benefit' you?" Dean snapped. "Am I really that amusing?"

"Oh yes, quite."

Cas leaned close to Dean as he ran a hand over his frustrated face. "I know I'm not one to talk," he murmured, "but supernatural beings keep falling in love with you and it's really inconvenient."

Dean blushed again, freshly embarrassed, but with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth - pleased, silently, at his love's possessiveness. "The ones other than you? Yeah. 'Quite.'"

Gilda cleared her throat and rose to step closer to them, turning and kneeling before the thrones. "Please, my Queen, my King," she calmly stated, "I have kept awareness of these two, along with my own love, as they did their works of good upon the Earth. Their hearts are true, and they truly love each other. The Angel Castiel has loved Dean Winchester since before you ever laid eyes on him, yourself. What good can their love do if you keep them apart? Certainly nothing for their realm, or ours. The pain that would bring would only cause harm to all they touch."

Dean blinked at her in surprise, while Cas smiled in relief, nodding at her in thanks. She nodded back, turning again to her Queen as she bid her rise, gently and affectionately cupping her face under the chin to guide her back to her side. Titania looked, then, to her King - they shared a silent conversation born of centuries upon centuries of jealous love and deep commitment, arguments and bliss. 

Of marriage. 

"All right," Oberon finally answered. He turned back to the human and the Angel, leaning forward, clearly interested - and clearly a challenge, to keep him so. "I will consider your wishes."

"Great," Dean breathed, releasing air he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Th - (sonfoabitch). We are very grateful, your majesty."

"Convince me."

"What?"

He leaned back, taking in their perplexed expressions. "Convince me. Tell me why your love is pure enough to nullify a mark of the fae, especially my own."

"Your highness," Cas started, eager, ever rushing to Dean's defense. "We met twelve Earth years ago, when -"

"Not you," he snapped, glaring at him with obvious resentment. "Him. Dean Winchester, my _thrall_ , explain to me why your feelings for this creature entitle you to release from my service."

Dean swallowed hard, steeling his gaze, looking over at Cas with something like panic. He'd been getting much better at expressing himself when they were alone - his proposal was evidence of that - and he was comfortable with PDA around other people. But talking about his feelings? Out loud? In front of other people, even non-human ones? ....He wasn't quite there yet.

Cas smiled at him, reaching down to take his hand again. They both ignored Oberon's gaze on their fingers. "If it's not Earth," he whispered, "does it really count?"

The hunter was still afraid, even so, knowing that Cas would hear this too. Things he hadn't been brave enough to say out loud, even when he asked him to marry him. But looking into those bright blue eyes meeting his green with all the love and trust in the world, he knew. 

Cas was already aware of whatever he would say. 

Cas already loved him back. 

He didn't need to be afraid.

He turned back to Oberon with confidence, and began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Visually, this version of Oberon, Titania and Puck are inspired by the performances given by my local Shakespeare in the Park organization a couple years ago, The Ithaca Shakespeare Company - http://ithacashakespeare.org/prod/201907/gallery.php . They did an amazing job and will likely forever be my go-to version of these characters now.


	5. "If we shadows have offended / Think but this, and all is mended."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a story is told, a truth is found, and a love is honored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have the reason for the mature rating! If you're uncomfortable reading sex scenes, please feel free to skip the rest of the chapter after the illustration with the eyes. I will recap important plot points in the beginning-of-chapter notes for the next one.

It took the better part of what felt like hours to get through their entire story - especially with all the details of how he felt, on top of the flat-record of what actions had occurred. Cas held his hand the whole time. He told Oberon - all of them - everything. From his internalized homophobia at the hands of an abusive father, the shame he felt at feeling things he didn't think he was allowed to feel, to meeting Cas, to feeling what he knew was love for him long before he could recognize it, or admit it, and shoving it down over and over again. Both their mistakes, _all_ of them, always with the best intentions. The villains they fought and vanquished, the victories and the tragedies, everything. The people they saved - the world. Losing each other, and finding each other. Again. And again and again and again. What it did to him, his heart, every time he thought Cas was dead. What Cas's return did to him, too, the _fight_ it kindled in him every time he came back, every time he proved his devotion, no matter how unworthy he seemed of it. And then finally, the last time - Cas's sacrifice, enabling Dean to survive in order to help defeat God himself. The choice, after, to strive to bring him back - getting to do that, himself, with the help of their son, who was now the new God, more benevolent, kinder for and to everyone. And now, trying to find peace together. The good they had done more quietly in this past year, helping others, as they tried to settle into the happiness they finally believed they deserved. 

The love they finally saw and admitted within each other. That they were trying to seize, after all of that heartache and hurt.

By the time he was done, he was forcing back tears again. He silently cursed, realizing that beside him, Cas was crying openly, smiling softly and gripping his hand ever tighter.

Maybe his Angel hadn't known _everything_ he would say.

Looking back at the Queen and King, desperation and exhaustion on his own face, he was relieved to see them both moved. Titania was crying too, lovely, composed tears sliding down her beaming cheeks. She leaned over and smacked her husband's arm, interrupting his own attempts at a composed expression. But clearly he would weep as well, if his prize didn't hang in the balance. 

"So?" Cas piped up beside him, his deep voice raspy with emotion. "Please."

Oberon ran his hands behind his ears, looking up at the branches and ribbons. "Hmm," he chirped. He cleared his throat, looked at them. Looked at his wife. 

It felt like everyone was holding their breath.

Then he shook his head. "Your story, my vassal, was moving indeed. But it does not change the matter. Your love may be true, but I still have use of you here. You still don't understand the value and weight, the seriousness, of having bound yourself to this realm."

"Oh come on!" Dean shouted, at the same time that Cas swore in Enochian and Titania cried, "Husband, really!" A scandalized hum passed over the whole crowd of fae around them, though what they were upset about exactly, he couldn't say. He could barely think or feel anything beyond the sinking of his heart. 

"You heard the same words, felt the same emotion I felt, my King," Titania nearly hissed, obviously at the end of her rope. She leaned into his space and grabbed his arm fiercely. "He does not love you. He does not want you. Let him go."

"Are we to show undeserved mercy to our lessers, my Queen?" he replied, placing his hand over hers. "What does that show our people?"

Before she could respond, Castiel burst past Dean and up the steps of the dais to crowd over the Faerie King, ignoring the shouts of his subjects, Gilda and his love. He reached down and gripped Oberon by the front of his robes, pulling him slightly upward out of the seat.

"You heard and felt everything we all did, at what Dean told you," he hissed, his tear-filled gaze replaced by divine fury. His eyes blazed, blue light spilling out of them and humming into the space around them both. "Dean loves me more than you expected. I am sure of it. He loves me more than even _I_ realized, and I am NOT leaving here without him or his freedom."

Oberon laughed, a beautiful, cruel sound, patting Titania's hand on his arm and reaching to wrap his fingers around Cas'. "Impressive, Angel of Thursday. Your devotion to this man inspires awe - and did, in the story, too. But do not think that your bravery, your misplaced defense of him means he is less bound to me. I could erase your mark on him with a thought and crush you beneath my heel in the same moment. Do. Not. Test. Me."

Castiel relaxed his grip a bit, but didn't back down. "What else do we need to do to change your mind?" he asked, flatly, then added, "Please," in a whisper, quiet and desperate.

"You cannot. For the violence visited upon members of my and my wife's courts, the warrior heart of Dean Winchester must return here, to serve and protect this realm, as he pledged by his willingness to serve me before. It is his nature. I see that clearly now and I claim him, still. Whether he walks away from here to return upon his earthly death, or stays with us now, the end will be the same."

Cas growled, tightening his grip again and clearly fighting the urge to haul the faerie off his throne and pummel him into submission, as he had done with assumedly greater foes. "Dean's will is his own, and whatever 'warrior spirit' is in him, he -"

Sudden laughter interrupted him, causing them both to look back at the man in question. His eyes were big as saucers, a manic, relieved grin already spreading across his face. That first chuckle quickly burst into heaving guffaws. Puck started laughing too, contagiously, as did several others around them. Cas just blinked at him, as did Oberon, neither of them moving. At his confused gaze, Dean waved at him, bracing himself on his knees as he regained his breath.

"Is that it?" he finally said, still wheezing. "Warrior spirit, huh?"

"Um, yes?" Oberon replied.

Green eyes met blue, sparkling with amusement and solid hope. "Cas - what did you say to me, before the Empty took you that last time?"

Cas narrowed his eyes only to snap them open again, a matching grin spreading across his whole face. He looked down at Oberon smugly and dropped him, striding over to stand beside Dean Winchester, taking his hand possessively and surely.

"Someone really, really wise and damn well too good for me once told me that I used to see myself - that my enemies see me - as a weapon, as a killer. An angry, damaged warrior, like you said. But in my heart, that's not who I am."

The King smoothed down the front of his tunic, face serious, but lifted his hand to bid him continue. Beside him, Titania smirked and leaned forward, somehow already understanding. 

He took a deep breath, recalling exactly what his Castiel - this being who loved him, and truly saw him - had said to him, then, and reminded him of with his actions every day. "Everything I have ever done, I have done for love. I am 'the most selfless human being' ....well maybe not _the_ most selfless, but it counts. I was supposed to kill God last year, and you know what? I didn't. I let him live. Because that killer - that warrior - that's not who I am anymore. He's dead. The person who bound himself to you no longer exists."

Both he and the King gasped as they felt the magic binding them break - shattering within, into nothingness. A silence followed, broken shortly by a single whoop from the crowd behind them (Puck would deny it to their dying day that it was theirs), then suddenly more laughter from Oberon himself. He laughed until tears leaked from his eyes again, grasping his wife's hand, who joined him in his mirth - gazing steadily at both Dean and Castiel, knowingly, and clearly impressed. 

"So be it," Oberon finally sighed, shaking his head with a fond smile. "Isn't that interesting?"

"It's the truth."

"I know." He stood, stepping carefully down to stand before Dean - not touching him this time. "All right. Go. Though I _will_ miss you."

"Thank you," Castiel breathed next to him, aware of the breaking of a rule but welcoming the dismissal it implied. Dean just nodded his head and reached into a satchel at his belt for the bell he knew was there. He rang it as Marion had instructed, and looked over at Gilda.

"Hey!" he called, "Visit us later, about Charlie, all right?"

She smiled back, and bobbed her head, looking to Titania for approval. The Queen dipped her head in turn, beaming at them.

"Well played, Mr. Winchester. Both of you!" she shouted after them. 

Blinding lights turned to sparkling stardust within the space, obscuring all beings and landscape around them. Then all faded to black again, with that same sensation of falling. 

** ~*~ **

Coming back into their bodies in Marion's parlor felt much like landing on hard concrete. Both Dean and Castiel were more grateful than they ever would have admitted to see the rows of pewter Gnomes and Goblins around the room. They drew in sharp breaths, watering eyes blinking open at the sweet smoke. Within seconds, they felt Sam's heavy footsteps shake the floor as he rushed over to check on them.

"Dean? Cas? Hey!" 

He helped them both sit up, smiling gratefully at Marion as she stepped behind them all and handed a glass of water to each that had returned - pint glasses instead of Tinkerbell-sized, to their relief. Dean gulped his down while Cas sipped, both of them stealing bewildered glances at each other, unable to keep from grinning even as the room still spun around them. 

"What happened?" his little brother asked. "Did it work?"

"Eventually," Dean coughed. "They're still grabby. Still douchebags."

Marion cleared her throat, but he ignored her. She stepped forward and leaned down to put out the incense burner, beaming up at him. "So, did they let you go?"

"Dean released himself," Cas grinned, finishing his water and standing up. 

The man beside him shook his head, standing too. They swayed into each other, not really having their balance back, and laughed. "No way. You definitely saved me again. Elrond there was gonna smite you if you hadn't let go of him! Wait, can faeries smite?"

Cas leaned forward to kiss him quickly - deeply - pressing their foreheads together and letting out a ragged breath. "We saved each other. I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't let you go."

"Wait," Sam interjected, "they tried to _keep_ you there?!"

"Yup. Well, sorta. But luckily, someone convinced me I wasn't the warrior they wanted anymore," he replied, still staring at the Angel - literal and figurative - before him. "Fuck. I love you, Cas. Let's go get married."

"Yes Dean. Please."

They flowed together again, gentle but fierce, and continued to ignore Sam's protests as they heard him stand and back away, apologizing to Marion and probably glaring at them to stop. But they didn't care. 

Dean felt warmer, lighter, than he ever had. That release from the magic he'd felt within him was still ringing in his spirit - in his body, now too. It had worked. He really was free.

Noting that the spinning feeling had passed, Dean grabbed Cas' hands and pulled him past Sam and Marion, hurrying out the doorway. "You cool to stay here and talk books a while, Sammy?"

The taller man shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest, but nodded and looked down to their ally. "If that's okay."

Marion looked at them in confusion, then her features rounded in a sharp "Oh!" and she smiled, almost laughing. "Yes. He'll be here when you get back, gentlemen."

"Great!" Dean grabbed his coat, still pulling Cas along as they sped out the doorway. "We might be a while."

"This had better be _just_ be inappropriate use of the car, Dean!" they heard Sam call out the window as they slid eagerly into Baby's front seat. "Do NOT get hitched without your family, okay?"

Dean waved him off, wasting no time in pulling the Impala out into traffic.

Marion laughed again as they watched them drive away, Sam looking more than a bit beleaguered. "We shouldn't be surprised," she chimed. "Faerie energy is often very sensual. Now, show me that tome you brought again. What were you saying about your friend, Rowena?"

** ~*~ **

Cas was on him before they even got onto the main streets, hands crawling under the hem of his shirt to reach as much skin as possible, fingers deftly finding all the spots he'd learned pleased Dean the most.

He let out a stream of curses, nearly swerving off the road at Cas's tongue around his ear. "Hold, ho-hold on."

"Fine," Cas growled, forcing himself to sit back but not fully letting go. He nuzzled into Dean's neck. "Motel?"

Dean grunted in affirmation, lost for words, and eased the car along the town's sparse roads to the place they'd passed along the way - thanking whatever forces were interested that it was the only one in town and that he remembered it from the last time they were here. He rushed inside to grab a room, not waiting for Cas, returning moments later to find him leaning against the side of the car, fingers drumming impatiently on the roof. He lifted and shook the room key in triumph, quickly locked Baby, then grabbed Cas's hand and nearly sprinted to the matching number. 

Inside, Cas spun him around and slammed him against the door, using their momentum to shut it. He reached behind him for the lock, swiftly moving his hands onto other, finer attentions. Dean groaned into him, their mouths smashing back together, desperate. 

"Fuck, Cas," Dean gasped. "You attacked the King of the Faeries for me."

Cas trailed his lips and teeth down Dean's neck, both hands reaching, grabbing at the hems of his layers of shirts to yank them off of him. "I did."

He hissed a breath, trying to focus despite his love's eager scrutiny. "That might be the hottest thing you've ever done."

"Hotter than dying for you over and over?" he snorted.

"...okay, yeah. But still." He reached down to stop him, cupping his face in both hands. "You could have died again."

Cas smiled, possessive and hungry. "But I didn't. I love you, Dean. You're mine. Now take off your pants."

Dean just laughed, leaning down to kiss him before fumbling at his belt, done worrying. 

The Angel pulled him forward, trying to ease them both back to the bed as they shed clothes, dropping them haphazardly on the floor, still grasping at each other along the way. Dean sucked in an excited breath as they reached the edge of the mattress and Cas finally reached into his boxers - but suddenly, the celestial swayed backward, his expression blanking out and his eyes glazing over.

"Hey - Cas?" He reached up to grab him by the shoulders, stopping him from tipping sideways. "You okay?" 

Awareness came back into his gaze immediately. He nodded, breaking into a smile. "The last of my grace," he whispered, hands reaching up to twine with Dean's. "It's gone. I'm....I'm human, now."

Dean sputtered, "Um, you mean that, this, us, is what....?"

"No," he laughed, pulling him down onto the bed with him. "I think it must have happened earlier, but in the disorientation of coming back to my vessel....my _body,_ I didn't notice until now."

He leaned over him, fighting the instinct to pull him back in. "Oh. So, um...." 

Now that it had actually happened, he was terrified. It had seemed like such a gift a year ago, when Jack told them it would occur. But now that it had.... what if he regretted it? What if it was too great a loss? ....What if _he_ wasn't worth it?

"Are - are you really okay with this? Losing your powers, and everything?" Dean whispered, raising himself on his elbows above Castiel's torso, meeting his gaze - holding him, there. "I bet if you asked, Jack could take it back. Make you an Angel again."

Cas blinked up at him in surprise, his lips pressed together in a firm, serious line. He searched his eyes, fearless as always - seeing him as truly as he ever had, from the moment they first met. His gaze softened, and he reached up to wrap his arms around Dean's waist, pulling him closer.

Then suddenly, Dean was on his back, Cas laying on top of him and fitting there as perfectly as he always did.

"I have never been more sure of anything." He leaned down to press a nearly chaste kiss to Dean's lips, belying the innocence as he dragged his torso upward, friction everywhere. "I have chosen you. I always have." He kissed him deeper, reaching down in Dean's distraction to pull his boxers fully off and take him in one hand. Dean gasped, fingers digging into newly human shoulderblades. He felt a wet slickness between them, suddenly, and wondered absentmindedly when Cas had grabbed the lube from their bags - but such thoughts ceased as Cas' attention rolled within him, pleasure rising as his angel - his betrothed - proved to him his choice was true.

And then, even that focus broke at what Castiel said next.

"You know, in human history, long ago, it was considered binding if two people said to each other - in any place, without any officiate - that they plighted their 'troth' to the other."

"Is - is this really the time for a history lesson, sweetheart?" Dean asked, reaching up to drag him into a filthy kiss.

Cas kissed him back, but pulled away to pepper more kisses down his neck and shoulder, continuing, "'Plight' meaning pledge, and 'troth' meaning truth. And once they lay together, that was it. They were married."

Dean tried to respond, but words kept evading him Cas worked him over. He gave in to it, listening - understanding, even if he couldn't respond as the waves washed intensely through him. But he knew what he meant, what _that_ meant. Cas slowed, looking at him with reverence. Waiting for permission. Dean licked his lips, and nodded.

Cas surged into him again, then dragged his mouth away to lean into his neck, whispering into his ear. "I plight thee my troth, Dean Winchester."

Dean cried out, spasming as he was pushed over the edge, letting Castiel hold him through it. Then he pulled him back down, kissing him thoroughly and sweetly, taking air from each other.

"I plight thee my troth, Castiel," he replied between kisses.

He grinned, humming happily against his lips and letting Dean push him over onto his back again, ready for his turn. Ever trusting. He looked as happy as Dean had ever seen him, stunning as always, especially like this. As he sank into him again, he felt gratitude fill his whole spirit, still only half-believing that they were lucky enough to get to have this. To have each other, after everything.

He would swear forever after that no other wedding would ever be as perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As mentioned before, this version of Oberon, Titania and Puck are inspired by the performances given by my local Shakespeare in the Park organization a couple years ago, The Ithaca Shakespeare Company - http://ithacashakespeare.org/prod/201907/gallery.php . They did an amazing job and will likely forever be my go-to version of these characters now.
> 
> And the plighting my troth thing is true! I saw the idea on Tumblr (originally posted as a ficlet by @wallmakerelict , brought to my attention by @hufflepuffdean 💛). You can read more about the language here - https://sesquiotic.com/2013/03/10/i-plight-thee-my-troth/ and the history of it here - https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/love-and-marriage-in-medieval-england/


	6. “But yet an union in partition / Two lovely berries moulded on one stem.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a life together is begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick summary for those of you who skipped the intimacy at the end of the previous chapter: Cas and Dean headed to a motel room to be alone, and in the midst of that, the delirium and rush of being back from Faerie faded and Castiel realized that he'd lost his grace while they were there - and is now fully human. Suddenly insecure, Dean asked if he was sure about falling after all - if he wanted to ask Jack to take it back, to which Cas proceeded to make love to him and tell him that he'd never been more sure of anything. As they lay together, he told Dean that in ancient human history, two people had to only say to each other "I plight thee my troth" ('plight' meaning pledge, 'troth' meaning truth). and then have sex, and they were considered married. In the throes of their passion, they made that pledge, then and there. 
> 
> (I am aware I am a humongous sap, please do not send help.)

After, Cas slept, his new humanity overwhelming him. Before passing out, he mumblingly asked Dean for some food - to which Dean tucked him in, kissed him on the forehead, got dressed and texted Sammy that he'd be on his way to get him in a bit. Taking his time getting back to Marion's house, he let what they had done sink in - feeling full, and whole, in a brand new way.

Married. 

_Husbands._

He grinned, letting both Marion and Sam assume what they would as he swung into the now familiar driveway, got out to collect his brother and thank their friend again. 

They hurried into the local diner to get takeout on the way back to their room, deciding to stay the night and head back the next morning. After a meal filled with significant glances between the elder Winchester and the fallen Angel, Sam ended up getting his own accommodations - for his own sanity, but also to let them have whatever it was they were going through. Something had clearly happened in Faerie, and while he wasn't going to prod, he was very happy for them both. They'd all sleep better knowing this situation was behind them.

Waking up, they headed out early, a very groggy Castiel requiring twice as much coffee as usual - at which he finally confessed to his young friend that he'd lost the last of his grace the day before. He was finally set to live out the rest of his mortal days with Dean, him and their chosen kin. Finding odd relief in that too, Sam didn't even complain about taking the back seat, letting Cas sit with Dean - resisting the urge to tease his brother as they held hands, Dean fiddling with Cas's ring half the time. His brother practically vibrated with happiness, more than he'd ever seen on him. How could he make fun of that?

He texted with Eileen more than usual on the ride home.

Dean and Cas never told anyone about what they'd done that night, choosing instead to proceed with their wedding ceremony and keep their first vows private. With the help of friends in the hunter community, they established Cas's human identity lock-tight and got his name on the papers for their new house, busying themselves with moving out of the Bunker and planning the venue, guest list, and honeymoon as if nothing had stood in their way.

So it was that a few months later, they stood in the backyard of their home - all moved in, just starting to get settled - ready to pledge themselves to each other again in front of a small gathering of their friends.

Dean stood near the back of the crowd, glancing around for Cas, who had been pulled from person to person all morning as they asked him how he was settling in to human life (grumpily in the mornings and with many new routines to learn, but happily in heart, which made everything else perfection). 

They hadn't seen each other much all day, except for breakfast, then a glimpse of each other after they got dressed - both Claire and Donna insisting that they not see each other, even though they both protested that that was an outdated superstition (and as Dean noted, only applied to chicks) . Still, they'd managed to almost collide coming into and out of the bathroom, respectively. Dean's brain nearly flatlined at the sight of Castiel in a waistcoat - something he'd never entertained before, was now sorry that he hadn't, and certainly would _often_ from then on. Cas had noticed, smirking in quiet triumph, equally smitten with Dean in his button up and bolo tie. 

"You look beautiful," he breathed into his mouth, kissing him quickly and then spinning around and closing himself in the bathroom before Dean could respond.

He weighed his options. Though he desperately wanted to follow and make a mess out of Cas's gorgeous hair and his shockingly sexy choice of clothing, Dean tried to think sobering, cooling thoughts and went back outside to meet their guests. 

Now, not finding him in the crowd, he sighed and let himself be distracted as Sam and Eileen came over to harass him - having gotten more of their visitors settled. A simple but sparkling band shone freshly on Eileen's finger. 

"Everyone's all set," Sam declared, clapping his brother on the shoulder and gesturing to the mostly filled seats on each side of the aisle they'd constructed. It led to a simple archway that he had built himself, under which stood Garth (who had insisted on being the one to marry them, over and over until they relented). Feigning irritation, Dean was actually pleased. Garth's happy ending was part of what had inspired him to seek his own, after all. 

The werewolf waved over at him, and he lifted a hand back in recognition, trying to still the butterflies in his stomach.

"Great," he sighed, smiling and pulling him in for a quick hug. "Thanks Sammy. Eileen. We couldn't have done this without you."

"You'll just have to return the favor, later," Eileen replied, linking arms with Sam. "Unless we get impatient and run off to Vegas."

He fixed them both with a glare and pointed finger. "Absolutely not. You insisted _we_ had to wait until everyone could be here, so, so do you."

"Hey, if I hadn't, you and Cas would have run off to the Elwood courthouse right after you got back from Avalon and made all of us miss this!"

"Who's to say we didn't" Dean teased, grinning.

"Excuse me?!"

"Oh hey!" Dean deflected, waving widely at someone new approaching them, recognizing her layers and crystals even though they looked fancier than usual today. Marion stepped briskly forward, beaming, her lacey skirts trailing behind her. One hand held two small wreaths, the other held Cas' as she pulled him along behind. At his smile, meeting his eyes, Dean's heart melted.

He was going to get through this without crying. He _was._

"There you are!" Marion chimed, embracing everyone. "I've been looking all over for you. I'm glad I caught you before the ceremony - here." As Cas stepped unconsciously to Dean's side, she held the wreaths out to them - one for each, matching garlands with various wildflowers woven among pretty round-leaved grasses.

Holding it cautiously in his hands, Dean realized slowly that they were crowns.

"Oh, uh," he started, a loud _'hell no'_ resounding between his ears. But then he looked over at his fiancée - Cas was glowing, already putting his on his head and pulling Marion into another hug. 

"These are lovely," he swooned. "How did you know?"

She sparkled back at him. "Sam mentioned that you were interested in bees and wanted to start a garden of flowers for them, so I thought these blooms would be appropriate. I included seeds of the same varieties with your other gift."

Still grinning, Cas looked over at his betrothed..... and Dean folded immediately. He let him reach out and put the matching crown on his head, admitting - begrudgingly to himself - that they did look quite charming.

If anyone gave them crap about it, he would deck them later. It would be worth it, seeing Cas like this.

The ceremony they'd planned was simple, and pretty short, not wanting to postpone celebrating and getting on with their lives. Sam walked Dean down the aisle, as he had insisted, Claire following with Cas moments later as Zeppelin played softly in the background. As Sam stepped to Dean's side to make room for Cas, the sort blonde hugged them both, swatting Dean on the arm and telling him to behave before she spun around and stood on Cas's other side. She blew a kiss to Kaia, who sat in the front row beside their sisters and Jody and Donna (who was already sobbing happily). Dean glanced out over the small crowd, seeing Mrs. Tran, Krissy and her crew, Apocalypse Bobby and Charlie, Stevie, and several of the other hunters from that world, all there to show their respects. There were even some people there, civilians that they'd saved who knew the truth about monsters now and had kept in touch. It was mind-boggling, that they'd made it this far. That he was here. 

He looked at Castiel. That they were here, doing _this._ Finally. 

Smiling brilliantly with a near-embarrassing amount of pride, Garth spoke words about commitment and trust and faith - not in any god per se, but in each other, faith in finding each other and promising to be true. To choose one another, to the end of their days.

They repeated what they had said before in private as they slid rings on each other's fingers and sealed their union with a long, gentle kiss, breaking into laughter as everyone cheered for them.

Dean reached up to brush tears off Cas' cheeks, kissing him again as his angel reached up to wipe his away in turn. 

"I love you, Dean," Cas whispered, taking his hand to walk him back toward their house so they could start their reception - and their life, like this, together.

"Dammit Cas," he breathed, near to bursting with a level of joy that he'd never thought he'd feel. "I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading along so far! I hope you've enjoyed the story, and my exploration of faerie nature as shown in this awesome-awful show. Just one more quick scene to go - can't leave Gilda hanging, can we? 💗


	7. Epilogue - "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a promise is kept.

It was just starting to drizzle as they made their way down the carefully-constructed wooden steps to the base of the falls, following the gaggle of tourists in front of them, all led by a sturdy young woman in her mid-twenties who was going on about the history of the area. What the caves were like while people were still allowed inside them. Cas was just ahead of him, pouring over a brochure, a frustrated frown on his face as he listened and still failed to grasp why they just hadn't renamed the attraction. 

"It's exceedingly confusing," he had complained earlier, in their hotel room. "Nostalgia is one thing, but misrepresenting the tour is unacceptable."

Dean had just laughed - as he did now, hands in his pockets as he admired his husband's form from behind (clad in a slightly-neon eggwash colored plastic poncho, as it was). They had been in Niagara Falls for five days, intending to stay the week, but even with the very little leaving-of-their-hotel-room they'd been doing, they were quickly running out of activities. They'd decided to stay on the US side, so unless they changed their minds and headed over to Canada after all, they might be looking at an early trip home. The Cave of the Winds was the last thing on their list, after the Maid of the Mists - where they got soaked, which turned out to be a positive thing as they had to head back to their room and change - and the creepy wax museum - which got them both wondering how on Earth they hadn't been dragged up here for a case, before.

He caught up with Cas just as the rest of their group was getting to the base of the water, pulling him backward and pressing into him, teeth nipping at his earlobe. "Hey, Mr. Winchester," he growled, trying to sound sultry but unable to hide the absolute delight in it. "Just calm down and try to enjoy the sights, all right?"

Castiel grinned, turning around in his husband's arms to pull him into a borderline-inappropriate kiss. "Hmm. It's not my fault that humans make some of the strangest choices when it comes to names and tourism."

He reached down to play with his spouse's wedding band, stacked atop his first ring, from their engagement. "Oh I dunno, some of us make very good choices in the name area. Mr. Castiel Winchester."

He snorted, and kissed Dean again - quickly, before releasing him and turning back around to head forward. Their group was just about to move on, turning a curve nearby to follow the constructed path further down and back to the elevator up. "Please never stop saying that," he beamed, not letting go of Dean's hand. 

"I promise," Dean grinned back, resisting the urge to press him up against the railing and have his way with him there and then, public indecency laws be damned. People always said that fire like this, between married couples, would fade after a while. He couldn't help believing they were the exception.

12 years of repression had to be good for something, right?

They reached the base of the water, spray pouring over them as the cold liquid hit the rock beneath it. It was, admittedly, incredible. Between the raw power of this natural beauty, and the rush of winding his arm around the waist of the beauty beside him - this person, finally and fully _his_ \- Dean felt more alive than he had in a long time. He caught Cas' eye, dipped his head toward the falls, and - knowing Cas would get his meaning, and join him - opened his mouth to scream into it.

"Greetings, Misters Winchester."

The scream died in his throat, coming out instead as a wheezing sputter as they both whipped their heads around. Nearby, a familiar face smiled, clad in jeans and a poncho like theirs to hide her pointed ears, but still no less otherwordly-ethereal.

"Hello, Gilda," Cas smiled, breaking from Dean to step over to her. Apparently far less surprised to see her.

Laughter bubbled up from within her. She reached forward to take his hand, clasping it in both of hers. "Congratulations on your marriage," she chimed, nodding at Dean as he joined them. "I am so pleased for you both."

"Our gratitude for your help," Cas replied, linking his pinkie with Dean's as he felt his spouse reach for his belt loops. 

"Yeah," Dean smiled, now happy to see her after the shock of her appearance had passed. "You probably could have gotten into a lot of trouble for sticking up for us like that."

She shrugged, even that casual action coming across gracefully. "Perhaps. But the Queen is fond of me, and I have done much good in her service, so I am granted a fair amount of leeway. Or however the phrase goes."

Cas nodded. "Still. We owe you much."

She smirked. "Well, no matter what I'd done, I doubt that you would have left there without _your_ Dean no matter what anyone else said or tried to do to stop you. The courts still talk about your accostment of the King, hauling him out of his throne like that."

He blushed. Dean snorted, grinning at him. 

"And all are talking more kindly about your former folk than before," she noted, looking impressed. "So whether you meant for it to be so, or not, the might of the Angels is a bit more respected among the fae now. All because of your devotion."

"I, uh," Cas stammered, looking at Dean for help. "I can't say that every Angel would have behaved as I did. Most of us - them - don't fall in love, like I did."

"Dude, don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Gilda laughed again, the sound sparkling into and charging the space around them with excited, mirthful energy. But then her expression turned serious. Pained, worried, but tinged with hope. "....You know why I have come, yes?"

They both nodded at her, Cas adjusting his other hand in her grip more comfortably and tugging just slightly to pull her in the direction of the path beyond. "Let's go back to our hotel, get dried up, and we can talk."

She dipped her head, the distress on her face still there despite a small smile she forced over it. She met Dean's eyes, noting the sorrow in his own immediately - and he saw hers widen, just slightly, understanding beginning to seep in.

He was impressed, however, to see her keep her composure as they rejoined the tour group (acting as if Gilda had been with them all along. No one noticed). They made haste as the guide wrapped up their lesson to get back in the elevator, ride it up to the top of the cliffside, head to the Impala and take the short drive back to the hotel - a wedding gift from Jody and Donna, something nicer than the crappy _mo_ tels they were familiar with. The faerie was silent the whole way, slim fingers playing with the hem of her poncho as she perched in the backseat. Cas kept stealing glances at her, looking over at Dean in silent communication. 

What were they going to tell her? _How_ were they going to tell her?

In the end, they silently agreed that it was best not to sugar-coat it. Castiel spoke first, sitting beside her on the bed, with Dean sitting in the desk chair, pulled up next to him. They recounted Charlie's death at the hands of Eldon Frankenstein, not going into gory detail but making sure the fae woman knew she had fought bravely - and helped save the day in the process by her work on the Book of the Damned, and by making sure that work didn't fall into the Frankenstein's hands. They told her about Charlie's choice to become a hunter in the first place, about the people she saved and helped, her choosing a life of adventure on Earth and in Oz instead of standing on the sidelines. Not being able to help doing the right thing, knowing what she'd come to know. It was tragic, and painful - Dean forced back tears himself, at the memories - but honorable. They did their best to make sure this being, who still loved her, saw that.

Gilda wept openly, quietly, the whole time, listening silently and nodding every now and then to make sure they knew that she was following the tale. When they were done, she reached out for both of them, taking one of their hands in each of her's and squeezing tight.

"My gratefulness," she whispered, smiling again despite the despair shining through her eyes. "I have been long confused as to why I couldn't perceive her anymore. I appreciate knowing why."

Cas nodded, responding quietly, "Our son, Jack, took God's place in the Universe after the final battle we recounted to you before. He has been working on making Heaven a more pleasant place for all people, so I am sure that Charlie is at peace with her family now."

She furrowed her brow, frowning slightly. "That may be so. And I hope so. But something you mentioned has caused me to wonder..."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

She looked over at him, taking a moment to find the right words. "You stated that Charlie has ties to Oz, correct?"

"Yeah. She adventured there for a while before coming back here. Saved the whole damn day and everything."

She let go of their hands quickly, her own raising to move in emphasis as she spoke. "Oz is a _part_ of Avalon. Not the same as our own king and queendom - more like a sister realm, ruled by its own beings. We do not engage with it very much, seeing as it functions a bit more....physically, than our realm does. Almost halfway between Faerie and Earth, in truth. But it is certainly not the human realm, and anyone who has chosen to tie themselves to it is still bound to it, even in death. Like you would have been to my world, if you hadn't broken your bond with Lord Oberon. Do you understand?"

Dean's breath hitched in his throat. "So you're saying..."

She smiled, genuinely then, leaking hope over every part of her expression. "Charlie may be dead, yes. But she may not be in Heaven. She might have gone to Oz, instead."

"Does that mean there's a chance you can reach her, there?" Cas asked, a smile forming on his own face in kind.

She tipped her head, considering. "....I am not sure. I will need to take leave of my Queen, if she'll let me, and cross the barrier to that realm. It will take some time, and effort. And..." she fixed them with a light, but almost sorry, gaze. "It would be helpful to have allies. I have never been there. I do not know what I would face."

"Gilda... we haven't been there either." The former hunter leaned forward, eyes darting over to his husband's, finding him equally conflicted. "We just sent Charlie on her way before."

"But...we do know a bit about it," Cas noted, the quarrel in his gaze settling into a worried resignation. "Probably more than you do, just from what we heard from Charlie's stories about her time there."

They looked at each other, weighing their options, choosing not worry that they were having this silent conversation in front of their guest. For her part, Gilda just sat and waited, quiet and neutral. 

They were just getting settled. They were supposed to go home, start their peaceful life together, not run off on more life-endangering adventures. Especially at their age (or Dean's, at least), especially with Castiel newly human and vulnerable in ways he had barely been before. But, for all they knew, Oz was peaceful again under Dorothy and the Wizard's rule, so it _might_ just be like another vacation - with the added bonus of finding a lost, beloved friend, and returning her to the care of someone who loved her. 

And it was _Charlie._ How could they not do something, now that they knew?

_Son of a bitch._

They turned back to the faerie maiden as one. She had been watching their changing expressions, reading them, and smiled happily as she awaited what she seemed to already know they would say.

"Okay," Dean breathed, surrendering his worries - and finding himself grinning back at her, filled with the hope of seeing his little sister again. "Give us two weeks, to get home and settle the house and lock up and everything, and then we can go with you. Capiche?"

"Agreed." She tipped forward, pulling them both into a fierce hug - the strength of it, despite the thinness of her frame, surprising them both. "My _eternal_ gratefulness, my friends. I will meet you at your home in a fortnight, and we shall go."

Cas patted her affectionately on the back, trying not to laugh at Dean's bewildered expression. "Let us know if you have any trouble getting permission from Queen Titania, okay? I know how higher ups can be about these things."

She chuckled, nodded, and then was gone - vanishing in sparkling smoke just as she had the last time she'd seen her Charlie.

They both sat back, sighing, looking at each other with stricken expressions - which quickly turned into merrier ones as laughter filled the space between them, instead.

"Well?" Dean asked, grabbing Cas by the knees and pulling himself into his space, the wheels of the desk chair squeaking lightly at the action. "Up for another heroic quest, angel?"

Cas smirked, and nodding, pulling him into another deep kiss. "With you, husband? _Always."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it - for now! Obviously more adventures await them, which I will be getting to as soon as I can. I remember even less about the Oz content in the show, so a longer rewatch is in order, to make sure I get it right (and maybe a reread of that source material, too. We shall see).
> 
> Again, I hope you've enjoyed this story. Faerie work is very important to me (I take my Faerie witch business real serious) so the fact that they show up in this show at all brings me limitless glee, and the fact that I got to write this, expanding on what they chose to show us in canon, brings me even more warmth.
> 
> If you like my take on this realm, please check out my original Faerie-related work, "Tock the Gnome" - http://www.tockthegnome.com/
> 
> 🦋💖 My gratefulness to you for seeing the story through, dear reader! 💖🦋


End file.
